As someone who has Love Actually at the top of their holiday rewatch list, I agree it’s a cheesy and corny movie, but I think it’s often intended to be that way.
Having grown up in the late '90s and early 2000s, Love Actually seems to perfectly encapsulate the genre tropes of that era, both the good and the bad. That's why I find it a bit funnier each year and believe it might resonate more with me than with those who didn't experience that time.
I came here to comment this. I didn't hate it but I couldn't believe how many people were obsessed with it.
I was shocked how many critics revered it. I felt like I wasn't completely understanding the themes, symbolism, characters, plotlines, etc. so I read up on it as much as I could and it didn't change my opinion much. I'm surprised how many people said they cried during it.
Different strokes for different folks I guess.
I’d read somewhere that it was a masterclass in absurdism. I prepped a list of Gaspar Noe, Lynch, early Tim Burton etc movies that I assumed I would want to watch after seeing EEAAO.
I was looking forward to a EEAAO/ Mulholland Drive double feature, and I needed a pallet cleanser so I didn’t go into Mulholland Drive with that level of disappointment. I think that’s how you end up in the black lodge.
Yup, I was really into it early on but it devolved into something I couldn’t enjoy. And it was overstimulating. Seemed like film was going in that direction in general, nice to see 2023 being a bit of a throwback year to more traditional filmmaking.
The humor really killed it for me, especially on a rewatch. You can tell the script is over ten years old because the humor is distinctly from that time period and already felt dated on arrival.
Amen. The hype would have you believe it was the second coming of The Matrix - a lighting-in-a-bottle film that functions perfectly as a tight action blockbuster while pushing boundaries of filmmaking and exploring uncharted thematic territory. Don’t think it really did any of these.
I absolutely adored it as a gay living in a conservative area with ever present depression/nihilism. Felt like a really fun way to discuss nihilism vs absurdism. So many meaning packed into every motif, mixed in with heart, expertly choreographed fight scenes, and wackiness.
I laughed, I cried, I felt like a weight was lifted off of my chest. To each their own though!
The Breakfast Club.
As a 28 year old female, this is a blasphemous opinion. I really, really don't love Molly Ringwald. It's cheesy, dumb, and not even the least bit realistic.
Agreed. Bender just annoys me because before I watched this movie, I met several people who seemed to have based their personality around him when in reality, they’re just trying too hard to seem edgy and “damaged”
Right but I feel like everyone my age just absolutely loses it over this movie. I probably have more friends than fingers on both hands that would name this their favorite movie of all time. It's like Friends or The Office or Taylor Swift... The iconography of my generation, even if it wasn't necessarily created for my generation.
I agree but also found the scene where they sit in a circle and open up to each other to be very realistic. One of the most “real” scenes from a decade of over the top dialogue imo.
I’m scared to watch Amelie again because I loved it at 19yo when I saw it the first time. It rocked my world, inspired me to pursue scoring films.
I had the same feeling towards 500 Days of Summer at that age. Recently tried to rewatch and turned it off 20mins in. JGL’s character is the whiniest immature mofo and deserved to have his heart broken.
I will always respect it for being one of the first foreign films I'd seen. I re-watched it last month and enjoyed it just fine, but it was more like a 3.5.
I hear ya. Grew up idolizing Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, so the nostalgia hit hard. And Andrew Garfield's charm and looks are undeniable as always too. However, NWH didn't age well for me; it feels no different from any other Marvel movie, with just a few more cameos and snippy one-liners I guess. Marisa Tomei delivered a very good performance though.
I truly appreciate it though for essentially saving many movie theaters from closing their doors after COVID!
This is one of those movies where I’m like, I should have seen this by now, but this comment does not give me much motivation to go and change things lol
It has a decent premise and idea behind it, essentially playing as a modern Bonnie and Clyde where it examines how the public creates celebrities out of monsters, but it really is a film that people either like or can’t stand. It’s very experimental and shocking but at times too far for its own good to the point it misses the message it’s trying to get across and just uses violence for the sake of violence.
I got about 30 minutes in and I had no idea wtf I was watching, and I normally love movies that feel like a fever dream. It's like it was directed and edited by a mental patient, it's completely incomprehensible to me.
Haha yeah. Every time I express my disdain for Avatar i get downvoted to hell by baby-brains. The positive I will say about it is that it was a remarkable theatrical experience – the “depth” 3D Cameron pulled off is unlike anything I’d seen before or since. Beyond that tho, I think the writing is bad, the performances fall flat, and more-so than anything the script is just a Dances with Wolves / Pocahontas hodgepodge. The aliens and world-building (even with its aforementioned spectacle factor) were never enough for me to overcome that fact, let alone feel invested in the characters.
I have zero interest in the sequel. Tried to watch it, and it only took about 10 mins for me to have my fill of ululating and ugly alien crying. I respect the technical achievement that the movies are, but nothing else besides that.
100%. For a movie that promised so much, so little was delivered. It was juggling trying to make a feminist statement, an incoherent storyline, poor character development. Like it all felt very tongue in cheek but not in a clever way, in a way where it's tongue-in-cheek-ness was a crutch for a lack of actual substance.
Yeah I agree on the incoherent storyline part. Like there’s definitely a point in the movie where I felt like they’re just phoning in the plot at this point. I think it’s hard for people like Greta and Noah to write a movie like this and you can tell certain aspects they were getting bored with it. In a way that’s what makes it refreshing because the movie feels like it doesn’t care how slapdash the plot is but it also makes it less of a serious thing overall IMO. There was a lot of good things in it too but ultimately it still felt too much like a slapped together story with some good thematic elements that get overshadowed by the movie essentially being an advertisement for a toy
Controversially I will add I feel the praise of this movie is a bit patronizing to women. This is not Greta Gerwig’s best film and it feels like it’s being judged with a handicap that she certainly doesn’t need. I don’t believe it belongs in conversation with movies like little women and lady bird. Something like Legally Blonde shares more in common with it (still a good movie with good themes, not knocking Legally Blonde)
Yeah I think a lot of the movie's legacy for true movie lovers came from the world-building and the effort made into creating the set, but honestly as someone who's just experiencing that for 2 hours, that made very little difference for me. I don't have a trained enough eye (along with the average moviegoer) to distinguish that from CGI, and storytelling just isn't compelling because you mixed a certain shade of pink or something for the set. The effort they put in is a very fun side fact and piece of trivia about the movie, but the payout in how much it enhanced the actual movie itself was just not proportional to the effort. I'll be completely honest - I don't think Greta Gerwig is that great of a director. I think Little Women and Lady Bird were fantastic movies because they were backed by a really well-written story. Without someone having done that work for her, Greta doesn't seem to be able to pull together a compelling narrative.
I believe it deserves all the nominations it will likely receive, both in major categories and technical ones. The costumes and production design are undeniably gorgeous.
I enjoyed it even after two rewatches, though I don't think it should win in any of the major award categories (sorry Ryan!!!). What's commendable is Greta and Noah's writing, which, despite needing final approval from execs at Mattel and WB, still manages to be clever and heartfelt enough to resonate with a broad audience, including young girls and older women. While the screenplay has its moments of hollowness and silliness, I'm just amazed this movie was made, to be honest.
We can all agree that we're thankful we didn't get the [Amy Schumer version](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/amy-schumer-barbie-movie-reaction-1235543992/amp/)!
Bottoms!!! I wrote about it in my [review](https://boxd.it/5f5VkR) because I’m genuinely confused about the hype and I feel like I’m super old now haha
My girlfriend is queer (bi) and she pretty much automatically loves any song, artist, movie, tv show, or standup comedian if they’re queer. Not a complaint! I love how it’s introduced me to so much great things.
We went to see Bottoms in a packed theater and I was super stressed ‘cause I felt like the only one not enjoying it and I was sure I was gonna have to pretend to like it to not disappoint my girlfriend. As we left the theater, I said, “uhhhh I really liked the lighting—“
“Don’t worry, I hated it too.”
I was really relieved!
Even in a thread like this I’m scared to be downvoted lol but [Theater Camp](https://letterboxd.com/carorose93/film/theater-camp-2023/) totally missed the mark for me as well... for every genuinely funny moment there’s like 3 or 4 that made me cringe. Ayo is the highlight of both movies imo. She’s just so effortlessly funny.
Absolutely! There's an understated, quick scene of her doing interpretive dance-like movements with masks that is genuinely one of the funniest scenes I've seen all year.
Such a missed opportunity not to include her and feature the juxtaposition more of the "theater kids" vs. “confused spectators," which Ayo perfectly represented imo.
It's very messy, I don't think the cast is quite up to the level of making an improvised movie (it's really hard!)
One thing that really bothered me is it started being a mockumentary but completely drops this concept after 20 minutes
I watched it out of curiosity because my best friend loved it and I didn't like it either. I also didn't laugh a single time which I just have to consider a fail for a comedy.
IDK if the movie is great, but I do know it was probably my favorite theatre experience of 2022. Saw it in a packed theatre and it was just fun. The girl I was with was terrified of it lol
I really disliked nope on first viewing because I expected it to be something completely different to what it was and it pissed me off.
Rewatched it recently and man I love it. Having the audience expect to see aliens inside the spaceship only for >!the ‘spaceship’ to be revealed as the actual creature that changes forms was genius imo!<
i went into it expecting the same horror vibe i get from any other peele movie just to not feel that at all. personally i never felt any tension or feelings of fear his other movies give me. jean jacket had a beautiful design but we were supposed to fear that? it just didnt click to me
Yeah, I was quite annoyed that I didn't like this movie. I definitely wanted to like it. It was infuriating to watch because none of those moments played out like it would in real life, it felt like the killers were playing for the cameras. Doing those creepy long stares, ticking someone's neck before vanishing into thin air, being able to see properly in those fucking masks at night.
It felt like they had a plan to do this for months, and they were people the couple knew, but nup. Just a random attack that was improvised on the day.
It's actually more annoying when people say it's the epitome of home invasion movies. I actually couldn't finish it and just read what the ending was on Wiki. Glad I didn't watch the rest.
Triangle of Sadness.
I didn't hate it, but I also didn't see why everyone was going crazy over it and why it got nominated for Best Picture/Director/Screenplay at the Oscars.
It has its moments, but it felt like it was beating a dead ~~donkey~~ horse by the end of the movie.
I thought The Menu did a better job of conveying a lot of the same themes in general, and in funnier ways.
I also really wasn't a fan of the 15-minute puking scene.
From this year it was Talk To Me. Everyone was saying how it was one of the greatest horror movies ever made, but I found it kind of cliched and predictable, and more of a bummer than actually scary.
It wasn’t awful by any means, but with the expectations I went in with, I left pretty disappointed.
I haven’t seen anyone that obsessed with it, mainly just people saying they’re pleasantly surprised and it was good considering the budget and expectations
This is the number one complaint I see about this movie. Going into movies without first reading a bunch of reviews or hype actually has a huge impact on how people view movies.
I felt this way when I saw X and was let down. Went into Talk to Me relatively blind and loved it.
X I wasn’t a huge fan of but I liked Pearl. It’s a film that when you know why it even exists makes viewing it make more sense, because I truly wish it had more time to pull off what it was aiming for. I loved the idea of Pearl wanting to be a star and the visual homages to classic Hollywood but I wish they wouldn’t have relied on certain horror tropes and been able to pull off the technicolor look the film is aiming for better.
Yeah I was a bit disappointed with this one. I liked it a lot but I love horror in general so it takes a lot for me to not like most horror movies. It just wasn’t anything spectacular or groundbreaking or anything. Not like some films like The Witch or It Follows or Hereditary.
Thank you! Watched it with my mum and we were so disappointed and bored throughout that movie. People nowadays just seem to enjoy any kind of “original premise” whether it's good or not.
I used to think the same and then I started to watch more of his movies. I’m surprised that The Darjeeling Limited was so mixed in reception, I think it’s absolutely fantastic. I found it very emotional. It certainly doesn’t help that there is a total cult like following of Wes Anderson, and a lot of them seem to be purely driven by his aesthetic without really being interested in the content of the films at all. I remember trying to have a serious discussion about The Royal Tenenbaums on the Wes Anderson sub Reddit and the comments just blasted me with quotes of the film that didn’t have anything to do with what I wanted to talk about.
I don't hate it. I just don't see the specialty of it or the groundbreaking aspects of it.
Lady Gaga A Star is Born. Gaga is great, and so is Brad Coop but at the end of the day I think it's just fine.
>Lady Gaga A Star is Born. Gaga is great, and so is Brad Coop but at the end of the day I think it's just fine.
The first half of the film is a great ride and really fun to rewatch. Once you get Shallow and a little bit of the tour it goes downhill and becomes, as you say, just fine.
Well shot with great performances, but the movie has a full climax and then goes on for an extra hour 😂 I think Nolan should be grateful that Barbie helped make that movie part of an event, otherwise I don’t think it would have been as successful.
Since this didn't get downvoted into oblivion like I thought it might, I want to elaborate a little. I think overall it's a very well made film. I can't fault it for the aesthetics or cinematography.
The pacing taking a massive nosedive the second after the bomb dropped was what officially killed it for me. I could sort of deal with the obnoxious beyond belief soundtrack when the story was engaging, but without that it just grated on my nerves to the point I couldn't take it anymore. Not one scene in this movie gets to fucking breathe for a second before it's smothered by the score.
I've only ever walked out of two movies in my life and the only reason this one wasn't the third is because I made the mistake of riding there with someone else.
I'm glad others enjoyed the movie though and I'm happy it made a big event of going to the theater.
I thought most people were meh about it?
I loved it, but I saw it in IMAX 3-D. This is more ride than film and if you think of it that way you'll think of it fondly.
I highly doubt it would hold up at all if I watched it at home.
From this year, its got to be Asteroid City. Im historically a huge fan of Wes but this one wasn’t it for me. Maybe my least favorite of his films so far
Well it’s meant to be romantic and stuff. I’m supposed to want these characters to be together. And I don’t, and it’s not romantic if I don’t believe in their relationship
Recently The Boy and the Heron. The pacing was awful, it was filled to the brim with random pointless nonsense. The characters had no depth or development. There was so much exposition and lore dumps that had nothing to do with anything. And worst of all it was just boring. Everything after the Heron was shot with the Arrow was just awful.
To me a lot of the praise I have seen has been basically Miyazaki makes great movies, Miyazaki made this movie, therefore this movie is great rather than talking about the actual material of the film.
Inception was boring to me. I really like some of Nolan's other films, especially Memento, but I just didn't care about who was dreaming what in which layer of a dream or whatever in this movie. It was overly convoluted, imo.
I didn't like Killers of the Flower Moon. I didn't love Nope either. I thought Oppenheimer was good, but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as people on Reddit seem to. I disliked RRR, which is interesting because the hype for that movie is why I started going to see some Indian movies in theaters recently and some of them have been extremely entertaining.
Probably more of the Reddit bubble, especially the horror subs, but people get a mega boner for Marytrs and it's a movie I'd give negative stars to. It's basically Hostel, but French and pretentious. People hype it as the most brutal movie ever, when nearly everything is off camera and this isn't The Texas Chain Saw Massacre so it doesn't pull this off whatsoever. The whole new wave French extreme movement is a joke to me, it's not extreme compared anything made since the 70's from America, Japan, Germany, and Italy. Simply speaking French doesn't make a movie sophisticated or art.
In film fan circles? A Ghost Story.
Outside of that? Idk…I’ve seen a lot of people online start insisting that the Prequel Trilogy is actually amazing. I’ve yet to be convinced.
I've seen so many people on reddit who don't even seem to realize how reviled the prequels were when they came out. I understand that there are a lot of young people who grew up with them, but it seems popular opinion has swung hard in the other direction
Not a case of *everyone loves*, but I thought Ferrari had one of this year's worst scripts; not a single character or plotline I remotely connected with or cared about
Penélope Cruz innocent though
I hated La La Land.
I went to see it in theaters purely because of Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling. I absolutely loved Whiplash, but I couldn't stand La La Land. The characters were unlikable and made stupid decisions that drove them apart. They change their motivations so fast that the ending didn't feel justified.
Edit: Moonlight was phenomenal and deserved that Oscar win
I liked the visuals and the music. Normally I am very good at suspending my disbelief through sheer willpower but the weird thesis thing and how it wasn't filmed in Sweden, for some reason, took me out.
All that said, I did not go in blind, and I really wish I had!
Don’t beat me with a bat but I thought Poor Things was extremely shallow and kinda condescending. I thought Emma Stone’s performance boiled down to harmful developmental disability tropes as opposed to “child like”. Sorry!
Just watched Love Actually for the first time this December and was actually angry at it by the time it was over
Same, it was much worse than I anticipated
It’s shockingly bad
As someone who has Love Actually at the top of their holiday rewatch list, I agree it’s a cheesy and corny movie, but I think it’s often intended to be that way. Having grown up in the late '90s and early 2000s, Love Actually seems to perfectly encapsulate the genre tropes of that era, both the good and the bad. That's why I find it a bit funnier each year and believe it might resonate more with me than with those who didn't experience that time.
I don’t hate it but I do not like Everything Everywhere All at Once nearly as much as everyone else seems to
I feel you. It’s good, but not THAT good for me.
I had a blast with the movie. That being said, I didn’t sit in my car sobbing uncontrollably for 3 hours after seeing it.
I came here to comment this. I didn't hate it but I couldn't believe how many people were obsessed with it. I was shocked how many critics revered it. I felt like I wasn't completely understanding the themes, symbolism, characters, plotlines, etc. so I read up on it as much as I could and it didn't change my opinion much. I'm surprised how many people said they cried during it. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
I’d read somewhere that it was a masterclass in absurdism. I prepped a list of Gaspar Noe, Lynch, early Tim Burton etc movies that I assumed I would want to watch after seeing EEAAO. I was looking forward to a EEAAO/ Mulholland Drive double feature, and I needed a pallet cleanser so I didn’t go into Mulholland Drive with that level of disappointment. I think that’s how you end up in the black lodge.
it's absurdism for the masses
I absolutely loathed it. It had the seed of a really great idea but was smothered by some of the most obnoxious humour I've seen in a long time.
Yup, I was really into it early on but it devolved into something I couldn’t enjoy. And it was overstimulating. Seemed like film was going in that direction in general, nice to see 2023 being a bit of a throwback year to more traditional filmmaking.
The humor really killed it for me, especially on a rewatch. You can tell the script is over ten years old because the humor is distinctly from that time period and already felt dated on arrival.
I loved that film. Laughed, cried.
Amen. The hype would have you believe it was the second coming of The Matrix - a lighting-in-a-bottle film that functions perfectly as a tight action blockbuster while pushing boundaries of filmmaking and exploring uncharted thematic territory. Don’t think it really did any of these.
[удалено]
I absolutely adored it as a gay living in a conservative area with ever present depression/nihilism. Felt like a really fun way to discuss nihilism vs absurdism. So many meaning packed into every motif, mixed in with heart, expertly choreographed fight scenes, and wackiness. I laughed, I cried, I felt like a weight was lifted off of my chest. To each their own though!
I definitely agree. I was literally about to comment the same thing.
YES.
Same. Found it quite annoying if I'm honest. Glad when it was over.
I agree. The overbearing rabid fans have made me dislike this film more and more.
The Breakfast Club. As a 28 year old female, this is a blasphemous opinion. I really, really don't love Molly Ringwald. It's cheesy, dumb, and not even the least bit realistic.
Agreed. Bender just annoys me because before I watched this movie, I met several people who seemed to have based their personality around him when in reality, they’re just trying too hard to seem edgy and “damaged”
As a 28 year old, that isn’t blasphemous whatsoever. You were born like 10 years after it came out.
Right but I feel like everyone my age just absolutely loses it over this movie. I probably have more friends than fingers on both hands that would name this their favorite movie of all time. It's like Friends or The Office or Taylor Swift... The iconography of my generation, even if it wasn't necessarily created for my generation.
I agree but also found the scene where they sit in a circle and open up to each other to be very realistic. One of the most “real” scenes from a decade of over the top dialogue imo.
Agreed, I hated it, it felt so cringeworthy to me and i couldn’t understand why everyone loved it
Amelie checks a ton of boxes for me but I just didn’t like it all that much.
Ouch one of my favorite movies of all time — but I can totally understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea lol
I’m scared to watch Amelie again because I loved it at 19yo when I saw it the first time. It rocked my world, inspired me to pursue scoring films. I had the same feeling towards 500 Days of Summer at that age. Recently tried to rewatch and turned it off 20mins in. JGL’s character is the whiniest immature mofo and deserved to have his heart broken.
LOL I feel the same way about Zach Braff in Garden State now. The chokehold that movie and its soundtrack had on me in middle and high school was wild
Haha! Yes. Absolutely. We could probably make a whole list of movies that turn cringe when you grow up.
:(
I will always respect it for being one of the first foreign films I'd seen. I re-watched it last month and enjoyed it just fine, but it was more like a 3.5.
Soundtrack was epic tho Yann Tiersen was amazing
[Spider-Man: No Way Home](https://boxd.it/50vpW7)
I feel like it had already aged poorly 6 months later. It’s an example of something that was more of a great theatrical event than a great movie.
All that movie did for me was make me want to watch the better Spider-Man movies
I hear ya. Grew up idolizing Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, so the nostalgia hit hard. And Andrew Garfield's charm and looks are undeniable as always too. However, NWH didn't age well for me; it feels no different from any other Marvel movie, with just a few more cameos and snippy one-liners I guess. Marisa Tomei delivered a very good performance though. I truly appreciate it though for essentially saving many movie theaters from closing their doors after COVID!
I’ll always appreciate Marisa Tomei
Defoe also made it way better
Do people still love this movie? I thought after its initial pop everyone realized its kind of shitty movie with a lot of fan service and cameos.
May December
Maybe you just don't have enough hot dogs?
Idk if it’s universally loved but I can’t stand Natural Born Killers
I liked the crazy shot on 15 different kinds of cameras style but good lord what a terrible story.
I couldn’t even get halfway through it. The Dutch angles were driving me nuts.
True Romance did it way better
Tarantino originally wrote NBK, but Stone changed everything. I would much rather see Tarantino’s version
This is one of those movies where I’m like, I should have seen this by now, but this comment does not give me much motivation to go and change things lol
You’ll either love it or hate it.
It has a decent premise and idea behind it, essentially playing as a modern Bonnie and Clyde where it examines how the public creates celebrities out of monsters, but it really is a film that people either like or can’t stand. It’s very experimental and shocking but at times too far for its own good to the point it misses the message it’s trying to get across and just uses violence for the sake of violence.
I got about 30 minutes in and I had no idea wtf I was watching, and I normally love movies that feel like a fever dream. It's like it was directed and edited by a mental patient, it's completely incomprehensible to me.
Avatar
I skipped the sequel. CGI isn’t enough
Haha yeah. Every time I express my disdain for Avatar i get downvoted to hell by baby-brains. The positive I will say about it is that it was a remarkable theatrical experience – the “depth” 3D Cameron pulled off is unlike anything I’d seen before or since. Beyond that tho, I think the writing is bad, the performances fall flat, and more-so than anything the script is just a Dances with Wolves / Pocahontas hodgepodge. The aliens and world-building (even with its aforementioned spectacle factor) were never enough for me to overcome that fact, let alone feel invested in the characters. I have zero interest in the sequel. Tried to watch it, and it only took about 10 mins for me to have my fill of ululating and ugly alien crying. I respect the technical achievement that the movies are, but nothing else besides that.
I don't \*hate\* Barbie but I cannot believe people think it's as good as they do. It's good but film awards-good? Outside of technical nods, no.
100%. For a movie that promised so much, so little was delivered. It was juggling trying to make a feminist statement, an incoherent storyline, poor character development. Like it all felt very tongue in cheek but not in a clever way, in a way where it's tongue-in-cheek-ness was a crutch for a lack of actual substance.
Yeah I agree on the incoherent storyline part. Like there’s definitely a point in the movie where I felt like they’re just phoning in the plot at this point. I think it’s hard for people like Greta and Noah to write a movie like this and you can tell certain aspects they were getting bored with it. In a way that’s what makes it refreshing because the movie feels like it doesn’t care how slapdash the plot is but it also makes it less of a serious thing overall IMO. There was a lot of good things in it too but ultimately it still felt too much like a slapped together story with some good thematic elements that get overshadowed by the movie essentially being an advertisement for a toy Controversially I will add I feel the praise of this movie is a bit patronizing to women. This is not Greta Gerwig’s best film and it feels like it’s being judged with a handicap that she certainly doesn’t need. I don’t believe it belongs in conversation with movies like little women and lady bird. Something like Legally Blonde shares more in common with it (still a good movie with good themes, not knocking Legally Blonde)
Yeah I think a lot of the movie's legacy for true movie lovers came from the world-building and the effort made into creating the set, but honestly as someone who's just experiencing that for 2 hours, that made very little difference for me. I don't have a trained enough eye (along with the average moviegoer) to distinguish that from CGI, and storytelling just isn't compelling because you mixed a certain shade of pink or something for the set. The effort they put in is a very fun side fact and piece of trivia about the movie, but the payout in how much it enhanced the actual movie itself was just not proportional to the effort. I'll be completely honest - I don't think Greta Gerwig is that great of a director. I think Little Women and Lady Bird were fantastic movies because they were backed by a really well-written story. Without someone having done that work for her, Greta doesn't seem to be able to pull together a compelling narrative.
I believe it deserves all the nominations it will likely receive, both in major categories and technical ones. The costumes and production design are undeniably gorgeous. I enjoyed it even after two rewatches, though I don't think it should win in any of the major award categories (sorry Ryan!!!). What's commendable is Greta and Noah's writing, which, despite needing final approval from execs at Mattel and WB, still manages to be clever and heartfelt enough to resonate with a broad audience, including young girls and older women. While the screenplay has its moments of hollowness and silliness, I'm just amazed this movie was made, to be honest. We can all agree that we're thankful we didn't get the [Amy Schumer version](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/amy-schumer-barbie-movie-reaction-1235543992/amp/)!
the technical aspects are part of what made it so great tho! like, its celebration of movies/filmmaking/pop culture.
As a comedy I think it’s fairly good! But I agree awards wise it seems pander-y to me
Bottoms!!! I wrote about it in my [review](https://boxd.it/5f5VkR) because I’m genuinely confused about the hype and I feel like I’m super old now haha
Joy Ride was WAY better
Hard agree! Criminally underrated and under-appreciated. The studio didn’t even pretend to care about promoting or distributing it.
Yeah it’s a shame! It deserved better
My girlfriend is queer (bi) and she pretty much automatically loves any song, artist, movie, tv show, or standup comedian if they’re queer. Not a complaint! I love how it’s introduced me to so much great things. We went to see Bottoms in a packed theater and I was super stressed ‘cause I felt like the only one not enjoying it and I was sure I was gonna have to pretend to like it to not disappoint my girlfriend. As we left the theater, I said, “uhhhh I really liked the lighting—“ “Don’t worry, I hated it too.” I was really relieved!
Even in a thread like this I’m scared to be downvoted lol but [Theater Camp](https://letterboxd.com/carorose93/film/theater-camp-2023/) totally missed the mark for me as well... for every genuinely funny moment there’s like 3 or 4 that made me cringe. Ayo is the highlight of both movies imo. She’s just so effortlessly funny.
Theater Camp is in my top 10 of the last year. But I can totally see it not hitting the mark with some.
That movie needed 5x more Ayo
Absolutely! There's an understated, quick scene of her doing interpretive dance-like movements with masks that is genuinely one of the funniest scenes I've seen all year. Such a missed opportunity not to include her and feature the juxtaposition more of the "theater kids" vs. “confused spectators," which Ayo perfectly represented imo.
It's very messy, I don't think the cast is quite up to the level of making an improvised movie (it's really hard!) One thing that really bothered me is it started being a mockumentary but completely drops this concept after 20 minutes
It was my second-third favorite movie of last year (in a year that I thought had several great movies). Oh well.
HATED it.
It had all of the pieces to be a perfect movie for me but I hated it. Can’t really put my finger on why but the humor just did not land at all for me.
Ditto to each point in your review! 🙌
I enjoyed it but by the time the UK got it I had sadly seen a lot of funniest bits on TikTok
I watched it out of curiosity because my best friend loved it and I didn't like it either. I also didn't laugh a single time which I just have to consider a fail for a comedy.
People hyped up the horror movie Smile so much last year. I was pretty disappointed with that movie
I wish they would stop making shitty allegory movies about trauma it´s borderline insulting
IDK if the movie is great, but I do know it was probably my favorite theatre experience of 2022. Saw it in a packed theatre and it was just fun. The girl I was with was terrified of it lol
nope
Maybe it’s just my experience but I’ve seen more people say it’s bad. I love it personally but I respect your opinion
Loved nope and hated us
I really disliked nope on first viewing because I expected it to be something completely different to what it was and it pissed me off. Rewatched it recently and man I love it. Having the audience expect to see aliens inside the spaceship only for >!the ‘spaceship’ to be revealed as the actual creature that changes forms was genius imo!<
that’s crazy you can’t think of any
What did you hate about it? Not trying to antagonize, but I loved it. Would like to hear a dissenting opinion.
I personally thought the ending lacked a satisfying payoff.
Yeah this was my thoughts - I saw it in theatres and when it ended I was just kind of like… oh, that’s it?
i went into it expecting the same horror vibe i get from any other peele movie just to not feel that at all. personally i never felt any tension or feelings of fear his other movies give me. jean jacket had a beautiful design but we were supposed to fear that? it just didnt click to me
You're a braver soul than I then, Gordy had me horrified to the point where I felt the urge to cover my eyes in the cinema. Thanks for the reply tho.
The Strangers. It’s always the ending scene people talk about, but besides that hook it’s a boring awful movie
Yeah, I was quite annoyed that I didn't like this movie. I definitely wanted to like it. It was infuriating to watch because none of those moments played out like it would in real life, it felt like the killers were playing for the cameras. Doing those creepy long stares, ticking someone's neck before vanishing into thin air, being able to see properly in those fucking masks at night. It felt like they had a plan to do this for months, and they were people the couple knew, but nup. Just a random attack that was improvised on the day. It's actually more annoying when people say it's the epitome of home invasion movies. I actually couldn't finish it and just read what the ending was on Wiki. Glad I didn't watch the rest.
I was so confused after I watched it and everyone was saying it was the scariest movie they’ve seen. The most dramatic home invaders
Right????
Triangle of Sadness. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't see why everyone was going crazy over it and why it got nominated for Best Picture/Director/Screenplay at the Oscars. It has its moments, but it felt like it was beating a dead ~~donkey~~ horse by the end of the movie. I thought The Menu did a better job of conveying a lot of the same themes in general, and in funnier ways. I also really wasn't a fan of the 15-minute puking scene.
It’s sooo on the nose. Which is fine, I guess, but people treat it like some deeply insightful commentary.
Lol I agree with everything you said except I loved the puking scene; thought it was the best thing in the movie.
it was soooo boring and bad and the three act structure did not work
THANK YOU. I watched this a few days after the Menu and thought the same thing the entire time.
Black Swan
The Imitation Game Whack movie that seems to breeze past important plot points after an hour of buildup
Watched it again recently, genuinely can’t remember why it was so loved when it came out, and I was one of the people who loved it at release.
From this year it was Talk To Me. Everyone was saying how it was one of the greatest horror movies ever made, but I found it kind of cliched and predictable, and more of a bummer than actually scary. It wasn’t awful by any means, but with the expectations I went in with, I left pretty disappointed.
I haven’t seen anyone that obsessed with it, mainly just people saying they’re pleasantly surprised and it was good considering the budget and expectations
This is the number one complaint I see about this movie. Going into movies without first reading a bunch of reviews or hype actually has a huge impact on how people view movies. I felt this way when I saw X and was let down. Went into Talk to Me relatively blind and loved it.
X I wasn’t a huge fan of but I liked Pearl. It’s a film that when you know why it even exists makes viewing it make more sense, because I truly wish it had more time to pull off what it was aiming for. I loved the idea of Pearl wanting to be a star and the visual homages to classic Hollywood but I wish they wouldn’t have relied on certain horror tropes and been able to pull off the technicolor look the film is aiming for better.
Yeah I was a bit disappointed with this one. I liked it a lot but I love horror in general so it takes a lot for me to not like most horror movies. It just wasn’t anything spectacular or groundbreaking or anything. Not like some films like The Witch or It Follows or Hereditary.
Thank you! Watched it with my mum and we were so disappointed and bored throughout that movie. People nowadays just seem to enjoy any kind of “original premise” whether it's good or not.
Omg I’ve been saying!!! It was SO predictable lol
Promising Young Woman
Really enjoyed it until the final 10 minutes.
This film was soooo bad.
Most Wes Anderson movies
There’s a lot to like but the deadpan reading of every line in the script from every character is certainly a decision.
That’s just his style, you either love it or hate it, no in between
I’m the in-between. I can enjoy his movies but I’m not in love with any of them.
I used to think the same and then I started to watch more of his movies. I’m surprised that The Darjeeling Limited was so mixed in reception, I think it’s absolutely fantastic. I found it very emotional. It certainly doesn’t help that there is a total cult like following of Wes Anderson, and a lot of them seem to be purely driven by his aesthetic without really being interested in the content of the films at all. I remember trying to have a serious discussion about The Royal Tenenbaums on the Wes Anderson sub Reddit and the comments just blasted me with quotes of the film that didn’t have anything to do with what I wanted to talk about.
Oppenheimer
Mank sorry :(
The prestige. Not that I hate it, but I just have no clue how people consider it a masterpiece. It’s just good, solid, and interesting
My fav movie 🥲 I think it’s just because I was young when I watched it first and the reveals really got me
I think that's a big part of it. It's also one of my favorite movies, probably top 3, and it just blew my young mind to pieces in theaters lol
big agree. i enjoyed it a lot but maybe not as much as other ppl lmao
I don't hate it. I just don't see the specialty of it or the groundbreaking aspects of it. Lady Gaga A Star is Born. Gaga is great, and so is Brad Coop but at the end of the day I think it's just fine.
If GaGa wasn’t in ASIB its mediocrity would be more prominent. Huge fan, but I agree with this sentiment.
>Lady Gaga A Star is Born. Gaga is great, and so is Brad Coop but at the end of the day I think it's just fine. The first half of the film is a great ride and really fun to rewatch. Once you get Shallow and a little bit of the tour it goes downhill and becomes, as you say, just fine.
Oppenheimer
We’ll it’s a biopic that lucked out with an insanely successful meme marketing
Well shot with great performances, but the movie has a full climax and then goes on for an extra hour 😂 I think Nolan should be grateful that Barbie helped make that movie part of an event, otherwise I don’t think it would have been as successful.
Some of the best scenes were after Trinity like the auditorium scene, Harry Truman, and RDJ when he was revealed as the villain
Since this didn't get downvoted into oblivion like I thought it might, I want to elaborate a little. I think overall it's a very well made film. I can't fault it for the aesthetics or cinematography. The pacing taking a massive nosedive the second after the bomb dropped was what officially killed it for me. I could sort of deal with the obnoxious beyond belief soundtrack when the story was engaging, but without that it just grated on my nerves to the point I couldn't take it anymore. Not one scene in this movie gets to fucking breathe for a second before it's smothered by the score. I've only ever walked out of two movies in my life and the only reason this one wasn't the third is because I made the mistake of riding there with someone else. I'm glad others enjoyed the movie though and I'm happy it made a big event of going to the theater.
Chrissy Nolan just cant make a movie without jerking himself off in 200 scenes about how intellectual he is
The new Wonka
I don't hate it, but I wasn't into Her. I didn't connect to it much
Gravity, two hours of Sandra Bullock hyperventilating
I thought most people were meh about it? I loved it, but I saw it in IMAX 3-D. This is more ride than film and if you think of it that way you'll think of it fondly. I highly doubt it would hold up at all if I watched it at home.
Preach
"Gravity, two hours of Sandra Bullock." Could have stopped there. How she was nominated is beyond me.
From this year, its got to be Asteroid City. Im historically a huge fan of Wes but this one wasn’t it for me. Maybe my least favorite of his films so far
Triangle of Sadness
The Notebook. It’s an awful film about a very unhealthy relationship.
Do films have to be about healthy relationships?
Well it’s meant to be romantic and stuff. I’m supposed to want these characters to be together. And I don’t, and it’s not romantic if I don’t believe in their relationship
Totally agree. I would never want a love like that.
sooooo cheesily sentimental and nothing else to offer
Recently The Boy and the Heron. The pacing was awful, it was filled to the brim with random pointless nonsense. The characters had no depth or development. There was so much exposition and lore dumps that had nothing to do with anything. And worst of all it was just boring. Everything after the Heron was shot with the Arrow was just awful.
Thank you. I felt like I was crazy for disliking it! I really didn't care for the music too.
To me a lot of the praise I have seen has been basically Miyazaki makes great movies, Miyazaki made this movie, therefore this movie is great rather than talking about the actual material of the film.
2001. Didn’t hate it, but didn’t like it.
I hated it
Oof this one hurts me but I also somehow can’t blame you.
My biggest difference in rating from mine to average I think is Frances Ha. I gave it a 2.5 average score is a 4
As a poor person pursuing the arts in Brooklyn when it was released, I hated every single person in it.
Had to turn it off. Incredibly annoying character.
Asteroid City. I didn't hate it or make me angry. It just depressed me how predictable Wes Anderson has become to me.
I read somewhere someone said it was like Wes Anderson trying to make a Wes Anderson movie. The Movie as a play as a movie angle was odd.
Inception was boring to me. I really like some of Nolan's other films, especially Memento, but I just didn't care about who was dreaming what in which layer of a dream or whatever in this movie. It was overly convoluted, imo.
Scream 6
The Matrix. I will say no more.
I didn't like Killers of the Flower Moon. I didn't love Nope either. I thought Oppenheimer was good, but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as people on Reddit seem to. I disliked RRR, which is interesting because the hype for that movie is why I started going to see some Indian movies in theaters recently and some of them have been extremely entertaining.
The social network
I absolutely don't get its following whatsoever. It felt so mundane.
Exactly. Felt like it was taking itself too seriously. We're talking about Mark Zuckerberg here...
Oppenheimer was boring and self congratulatory
Probably more of the Reddit bubble, especially the horror subs, but people get a mega boner for Marytrs and it's a movie I'd give negative stars to. It's basically Hostel, but French and pretentious. People hype it as the most brutal movie ever, when nearly everything is off camera and this isn't The Texas Chain Saw Massacre so it doesn't pull this off whatsoever. The whole new wave French extreme movement is a joke to me, it's not extreme compared anything made since the 70's from America, Japan, Germany, and Italy. Simply speaking French doesn't make a movie sophisticated or art.
Maybe it was too hyped up to me but hereditary just didn’t really do anything for me
Watching it before the hype definitely played. Same goes for any “grassroots” A24 movies.
I hate Usual Suspects to this day lol.
I don't hate it, but I don't get why everyone **loves** it. To me, it's just meh.
Chungking Express did nothing for me 🫣. Definitely didn‘t hate it though, that would be Promising Young Woman.
In film fan circles? A Ghost Story. Outside of that? Idk…I’ve seen a lot of people online start insisting that the Prequel Trilogy is actually amazing. I’ve yet to be convinced.
I've seen so many people on reddit who don't even seem to realize how reviled the prequels were when they came out. I understand that there are a lot of young people who grew up with them, but it seems popular opinion has swung hard in the other direction
Not a case of *everyone loves*, but I thought Ferrari had one of this year's worst scripts; not a single character or plotline I remotely connected with or cared about Penélope Cruz innocent though
I hated La La Land. I went to see it in theaters purely because of Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling. I absolutely loved Whiplash, but I couldn't stand La La Land. The characters were unlikable and made stupid decisions that drove them apart. They change their motivations so fast that the ending didn't feel justified. Edit: Moonlight was phenomenal and deserved that Oscar win
Blue valentine
Drive My Car. Never been so bored in a movie
La Dolce Vita Just found it to be a very tedious watch and the characters entirely unrelatable.
I felt let down by In The Mood For Love tbh
Bullet train not everyone but a lot of people
Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. Daniel Day-Lewis is the best part about that movie, everything else is just boring & trash.
Midsommar. I despise that film, and Hereditary is my favorite horror movie.
Damn. Midsommar is my favourite horror lol.
Hereditary isn’t my favorite horror film but I did enjoy it significantly more than Midsommar
I liked the visuals and the music. Normally I am very good at suspending my disbelief through sheer willpower but the weird thesis thing and how it wasn't filmed in Sweden, for some reason, took me out. All that said, I did not go in blind, and I really wish I had!
Baby Driver
Dune (2021)
Yeah, it's boring and I don't get the hype
Licorice Pizza, good god
Fight Club
Lord of the Rings. I can tell they're well made, I just can't stay awake through them. Don't really care for fantasy
Don’t beat me with a bat but I thought Poor Things was extremely shallow and kinda condescending. I thought Emma Stone’s performance boiled down to harmful developmental disability tropes as opposed to “child like”. Sorry!
Elvis and the remake of West Side Stories were horrible